Roman History

The Roman Empire is the result of one of the first attempts to unify the European

continent . It dominated history for more than five centuries before succumbing under the influence of numerous factors . During Octavian 's rein , the empire had indeed become the sole most powerful entity of the time . Military speaking , he had taken control over the Iberic Peninsula created new provinces such as he current Austria , Panonia and Moesia These successes notwithstanding , he failed to win decisively over the Germanic tribes which later on proved to be a crucial threat

to the integrity of the Empire . Therefore , the persistent presence of the barbarians at the external bs was an important factor that triggered the demise of the internal . There was a massive exodus of population from the rural areas especially due to the continuous wars of the empire moreover , the chaos from the public administration and the permanent corruption among the political elites added to the worsening situation . An important role was played by the military who decided on its own will the next ruler of the empire from among the leaders of their garrisons , thus fueling a state of uncertainty Fighting a looming Persian empire on the Eastern part , dealing with the pressure of the Goths on the Danube , who , in their turn , were pushing other barbarians inside the empire , facing added threats from the Franks and the invasion of Northern Italy by the Allamands , all these contributed to the dramatic internal situation and in the end led to the 3rd century crisis . The provisory salvation was found in actions such as those of Aurelian , who will continuously fight the barbarians , Carus who will be the first to split the two parts of the Empire for better administration . In 324 , it was Constantine who held the reins of power and who managed to spiritually unify the Empire by becoming the first Christian ruler . although he did force his subjects to keep in lie with the imperial cult , which was in somewhat contradiction with Christianity , he did proclaimed the Edict from Milan (313 ) which granted freedom to all religious cults , and then made Christianity a state religion , forbidding prostitution and divorce , introducing practices that would improve the treatment of prisoners and slaves offering the Church judiciary benefices and intervening in the life of the ecclesiastic institution in to maintain the orthodoxy of the doctrine (Berstein and Milza , 1994 , p312 . An additional reform measure taken by Constantine was that of moving the capital on the Bosphor . The legacy of the Western Empire is the result of the invasion of the first wave of barbarians which included the Germanic tribes that later on became the Saxons , the Franks , and the Alamans . Their contribution to the medieval culture relies especially in Clovis 's ambition to keep written proofs of all German old rituals , to take over the Roman administration and to keep the traditional coin of the Byzantine Emperor . Thus , he tried to ensure a minimum cultural continuation

Clovis...